
South Korea President Lee, Japan PM Ishiba agree to strengthen ties, Lee's office says
SEOUL, June 9 (Reuters) - South Korea's newly-elected President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed during a telephone call to strengthen bilateral ties, a South Korean presidential spokesperson said on Monday.
The call comes after the two leaders have said they aim for the countries to continue coordination on North Korea issues.
Lee, a left-leaning leader who was elected last week, has said pragmatism was key to his diplomacy and he would continue with security cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States.
Lee told Ishiba that he wanted to deal with geopolitical crises within the framework of the three-way cooperation with Tokyo and Washington, Kang Yoo-jung, Lee's spokesperson, told reporters.
Reaffirming the significance of bilateral ties, the two leaders agreed to meet in person to further develop the relations, Kang added.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Chinese aircraft carrier group enters waters near Japan's easternmost island for first time
A Chinese aircraft carrier group has entered an area of Japan's territorial waters for the first time, prompting concern in Tokyo over China's expanding naval reach. The Liaoning carrier, accompanied by two missile destroyers and a supply ship, entered Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Saturday evening, Japan's defence ministry said, before exiting to conduct military drills. The chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, did not say if the government had lodged a formal protest, saying only that it had 'conveyed an appropriate message to the Chinese side'. 'We will do our utmost to perform our warning and surveillance duties at sea and in the air,' he added, according to the Kyodo news agency. The incursion into Pacific waters about 300km south-west of Minamitori island will add to concern in Tokyo and Washington about China's increasingly assertive naval and air activity in and around Japanese waters. The countries are embroiled in a longstanding territorial dispute over the Senkakus – uninhabited islets in the east China Sea that are administered by Japan but claimed by China, where they are known as the Diaoyu. This is the first time, however, that a Chinese vessel has entered that part of Japan's EEZ – an area within 200 nautical miles (370km) of its coastline – a defence ministry spokesperson told Agence France-Presse. 'We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,' the spokesperson said. After leaving the EEZ, the Chinese carrier group conducted landing and take-off drills involving fighter jets and helicopters, the ministry said, adding that Japan had deployed a warship, Haguro, to monitor the situation. Minamitori, the easternmost point of the Japanese archipelago, is surrounded by large deposits of rare metals. Last year, experts from the Nippon Foundation and Tokyo University said about 200m tonnes of manganese nodules rich in rare metals existed on the seabed near the island. No civilians live on Minamitori, located about 1,900km south-east of Tokyo, but it hosts a small number of personnel from the meteorological agency, the self-defence forces and the coast guard. Saturday's incident was the latest in a series of incursions by Chinese vessels into Japanese waters. Last month, the Liaoning sailed between two southern islands inside a different region of Japan's EEZ. In September last year the same carrier group sailed between Yonaguni and Iriomote – two Japanese islands near Taiwan – and entered Japan's contiguous waters, an area up to 24 nautical miles from its coast. Japan's government condemned the move at the time as 'unacceptable' and voiced 'serious concerns' to Beijing.


Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
South Korea President Lee, Japan PM Ishiba agree to strengthen ties, Lee's office says
SEOUL, June 9 (Reuters) - South Korea's newly-elected President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed during a telephone call to strengthen bilateral ties, a South Korean presidential spokesperson said on Monday. The call comes after the two leaders have said they aim for the countries to continue coordination on North Korea issues. Lee, a left-leaning leader who was elected last week, has said pragmatism was key to his diplomacy and he would continue with security cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States. Lee told Ishiba that he wanted to deal with geopolitical crises within the framework of the three-way cooperation with Tokyo and Washington, Kang Yoo-jung, Lee's spokesperson, told reporters. Reaffirming the significance of bilateral ties, the two leaders agreed to meet in person to further develop the relations, Kang added.


Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Rising rates could affect Japan's spending plans, PM Ishiba says
TOKYO, June 9 (Reuters) - Japan must be aware that rising interest rates would push up the government's debt-financing costs and affect its spending plans, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday. "Japan is shifting to a phase where interest rates rise as a trend," Ishiba told parliament. "Japan's debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is high. When interest rates rise, the cost of funding government debt increases. That could weigh on spending," he said, calling on the need to ensure the government maintains public and market trust in its finances.